Agnes Keith House is located at Jalan Istana in Sandakan. It tooks 20 minutes walk from Sandakan town. The house is surrounded with sprawling green lawns and colonial- style wooden wall. Agnes Keith named Agnes Jones Goodwillie Newton Keith (July 4, 1901 - March 30, 1982) was an American author best known for her three autobiographical accounts life in Sabah before, during ,and after all the Second World War. She publised seven books in all.

Harry, Agnes's husband was Conservator of Forest and Director of Agriculture for the government of North Borneo under the Chartered Company and was Honorary Curator of the Sandakan Museum. He had worked in Borneo since 1925 and was based in Sandakan and where Agnes spent an idyllic five years at Sandakan.

The Japanese invading forces landed in Sandakan on 19 January 1942. With experiencing imprisonment for the past few years, she used them as the basis for her book, Three Came Home which was publised in April 1947 where Agnes and her son returned to Victoria. In detailed, the hardships and deprivations which the internees and POWs had undergone under the Japanese and became a bestseller.

Agnes and George finally returned to Sandakan in 1947 and this is when the third book publised in year 1951, entitled the White Man Returns. The Keiths remained in Sandakan until 1952.

On arriving in Sandakan in 1934, Keiths returned to Sandakan to find the house destroyed. They built a new house in 1946-47 on the similar style to the original. They named this house Newlands and lived until they left Sabah in 1952. The house was restored by Sabah Museum in collaboration with the Federal Department of Museum and Antiquities in 2001.